hi all,went and gt my first building quote today.From yanvit builders in ubon.simple 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom bungalow.Village about 100km away from ubon8 metre wide with 2 3.5*3.5 bedroom on the right hAND SIDE OF BUILD.with a 2*2.5 metre bathroom in the middle with entrance to one bedroom.4.5*wide by 5.5 deep living room with a small open plan kitchen and a small bathroom 2 meter deep.and a 2* 4.5 covered verendar backing on to this.with a 2* 3.5 metre entrance/porch at the front of the living room.cpac roof.Simple design 79 sqm living space.they give you a material and a budget for each material (but nt all)and you can pay in installment as the job progreeses10% depositanother 20% after they done footing foundations, and columms (ready for roof)another 20% after roof doneanother 20% after exterior wallanother 20% after interial wallsand 10% on completionand you can have breaks in between.how much ? 790K bahtsI asked him to break that price down, or whats for labour, and/or design and materials.Didnt give me a definate answer.just said about 30% labour and rest materials.Im basically paying for a project manager to oversee the work. labour, materials etcmy question is that a good price or a bit expensive.and would/could i do it much cheaper if I just paid a building team for labour and organised the rest myself as in matereals and design??thx for any advice..gymboy

Gymboy the answer really is draw up a B O Q and get materials prices and add the labour at a third Ita kinda impossible for someone to second guess a builder on face value the price looks very reasonable but what for what finish ! You could go down the route of employing labour and build it yourself that depends on your former life i would not recomend someone with thirty years IT behind them to feel qualified as bob the builder its not rocket science if you have the right team and they should be able to work under your direction assuming you know what direction,s you should be giving them Labour only can work out just as expensive or even more so because you will be doing a turnkey solution with the house livable at the end of it you will buy slightly better doors/kitchen /bathroom/ lights ect so not a fair comparison and these would have normally been at your cost anyway Take a serious look at it and how you feel if you have the confidence give it a go being a bungalow there are available pre cast posts you stand on a normal footing which speeds things up and saves a fortune on labour and materials then its just a case of infilling with blocks I did a bungalow for the mother in law in no time at all using that method and as i said earlier a great cost saving tecnique once they are in place the roof can be raised imediately so saving time again

my comments may be wrong but never deliberatelyIf it aint broke, dont fix it

geordie wrote:Gymboy the answer really is draw up a B O Q and get materials prices and add the labour at a third Ita kinda impossible for someone to second guess a builder on face value the price looks very reasonable but what for what finish ! You could go down the route of employing labour and build it yourself that depends on your former life i would not recomend someone with thirty years IT behind them to feel qualified as bob the builder its not rocket science if you have the right team and they should be able to work under your direction assuming you know what direction,s you should be giving them Labour only can work out just as expensive or even more so because you will be doing a turnkey solution with the house livable at the end of it you will buy slightly better doors/kitchen /bathroom/ lights ect so not a fair comparison and these would have normally been at your cost anyway Take a serious look at it and how you feel if you have the confidence give it a go being a bungalow there are available pre cast posts you stand on a normal footing which speeds things up and saves a fortune on labour and materials then its just a case of infilling with blocks I did a bungalow for the mother in law in no time at all using that method and as i said earlier a great cost saving tecnique once they are in place the roof can be raised imediately so saving time again

Thanks for your comments geordie.I think if i sourced builders just for the labour there would be a lots more risks.Plus my prevouis experience in building is not extensive, just a year here and there whens my options were bleak, but it was a means to an end. lolPlus i have read on another forum about positive experiences from other falangs using this firm and using them for present builds. And I have gt in touch with one of them to ask more questions.Plus you can pay in installments and have a break between each stage to spread the costs.So if i want peace of mind this would be a good way to go.but I will be looking at my other options before I make a final decision.

Gymboy take a shot at the builder with using the colums (pre cast) or better get a couple of labourers in to dig out the footings (or machine) and erect the colums yourself its so easyThen the roof you get a fixed price for the lot steel and tile,s The walls you can get a good idea from the forum but they are the cheapest bit ??Usually the builder will contract out the electrical and carpentry the plumbing is so easy usually a labourer does it (he,s not putting in central heating )Aluminium windows you have made locally and they will fit ! Wood the same plastic =large store homeproceilings if you go with grid or plasterboard will be contracted out on a price basically its not hard what you need is the village khun fixit mine was a guy called dago a pishead and a bodger = no real skills but he knew everyone so he was my foreman whipping boy he turned up imediately i asked with some labour for digging god how i remember that ! i thought he had been to an old folks home recruiting My advice get some 50-60 years old they set a pace the youngsters could not keep up with not fast but steady day in day out if i found some one had blagged it ( i am a rocket scientist???) they were downgraded to a job they could do but i had no issues with them it was a great experience although it had its moments of stress as well i had no drawings and no one knew what it was going to look like untill it was finished some asshole stole the camera so very few pictures but it was fun

my comments may be wrong but never deliberatelyIf it aint broke, dont fix it

The price seems resonable but you would need a better break down on materials used and things like how many lights and sockets excetra. Without any real details you are open to a lot of extras and builders are very good at misunderstanding which usually gos in their favour, try and get a lower price and you supply all the important finishing things such as tiles, windows, paint, plumbing fixtures and fittings ect.

In my experiance Thai builders are good until it comes to the finish and that is when most of them let you down, electrical and plubing are the two main items I find they are sadly lacking in. Anyway best of luck with your build.

came across another builder, who was working on a build in the local town.the build was in the final stages , had a good look around.looked pretty good work.spoke to him and he took us to his archkitect he usually works with, who worked at the local council.told him wot we wanted.went back to see him to have a look at the plans which were ok ,wot we wanted.he a have us some aprox cost about 550k 25% labour, 75% material costsabout 250k cheaper then the previous quote and its 2 sqm biggers.gonna meet the builder and the architect tomorra to hopefully thrash out a deal! lol!

well buddy i already had in my mind dat 550k quote would probaly creep up too 600k.what i like too know is when i do get my final in all quote from the builder , is it normal to ask for a list (bog) of all the materials he will use???

i got a labour only price from the builder in the end.he told he usually charges 3000 baht per square metre if difficult down to 2600 persqm if easy.house was 82.75sqm in end.and after a little bit of haggling agreed on 230,000 for labour, which is about 2779 per sqm.he said he's give up to 2 years gureentee on the work, if he keeps his word.said i wanna do it in stages.stage one up to and including the roof, footing, floors, colummns etc.30k up front and another 70k on completion.gave us a list of materials for this stage which he'll go with us to buy..of course the question i ask has he put to much down on the list? lol

We have just started our 130m2 house with a builder. He quoted us 1,200,000 including all basic construction materials and all labor. Plus we are supplying just under 200,000 in personal choice items: tile, paint, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, electrical fixtures and fans, and kitchen cabinets. This house while simple, has the complexity of being 1/3 over a 4 meter deep pond. The kitchen cabinets and appliances were our most expensive expenditure at about 70,000. The footing is all on deeply driven pilings and the work is guaranteed fro a year. Like you, we checked out his track record first. The payment structure is similar to yours. At fist I thought our builders quote was a bit high but it seems to be an acceptable current price. Your price seems reasonable-does it include the quality and style of fixtures and cabinets you want?. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting appearance wise, Thai taste and falang taste are often quite different.

The price is right if it includes electrics all done to Western standards (all wiring in the roof space enclosed in conduit, proper connectors, and a correctly earthed system; decent quality paint; the ridges and valleys of the roof should be sealed with flashing, and the roof lined with reflective foil; the roof truss should be welded to solid steel top plates on the tops of the concrete columns, and all the welds should be de-slagged and painted with red oxide; each tile should be tied to the battens; concrete tiles are now down in price from a few years ago. Bathrooms and kitchens equipped with sanitaryware and brightware from Cotto or American Standard, and good quality tiles on the floors.A polished granite worktop for the kitchen should be included in the price If using windows and exterior doors, the alu should be 100% top grade powder coated, and glazed with 6mm tinted glass. On a small project like this however, it's probably not worth going OTT to pay for professional project management or for a complete BOQ. The payment plan is normal and acceptable. Just be sure to look at other houses they have built and check the quality of the finish.

Jazzman or someone who might know where to find a good architect and builder who work according to western standards as quoted by jazzman- could you please pm me some names/recommendations? Thanks so much in advance.